Environment and Security: Transforming risks into cooperation

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Environment and Security

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between 2.9 and 3.8 million barrels a day, which would exceed annual production by South America’s largest oil producer, Ven- ezuela (EIA, 2007) although expectations may be tempered by the fact that Kasha- gan, one of the biggest Kazakh oil fields will not come online before 2013. As for gas, regional production reached approximately 138 billion cu m (bcm) in 2004 and 163 bcm in 2007, exceeding the combined produc- tion of South America, Central America, and Mexico (BP 2008).

The large energy reserves of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan have attracted the interest of international energy companies and states alike. The combination of high oil prices, geographical position – at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, two energy importing re- gions – diversification of demand in Europe and USA, fast growing fuel consumption in India and China and political instability in the Middle East, ensure that the Caspian region will continue to attract considerable international attention in coming years.

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